Software » MacOS Video » MacYTDL 1.30

Version 1.30 – New features and bug fixes

This release was just as difficult as v1.29.3 and took a long time to finish. There are still yet more bugs to fix but, the applet does download successfully in macOS 12 (Monterey), 15 (Sequoia) and 26 (Tahoe). At the final stage of preparing this release, I found that the "Adviser" alert which is issued when a download concludes has stopped working on Monterey and Sequoia but still works on Tahoe. No idea why. As the Adviser is not critical for downloading, I decided to release v1.30 anyway.

Most importantly, v1.30 implements Deno, a Java runtime that is recommended by the yt-dlp developers for downloading from YouTube. It is not compulsory but without it, downloads from YouTube will probably fail more often over time.

The MacYTDL logo is gone for now. Exporting, signing and notarising as an applet in macOS Tahoe kills custom file icons for AppleScript applets.

Here is the list of changes in v1.30:

Deno has been implemented. It is an optional install available in “Utilities” if the installed version of ytdlp is more recent than 2025.10.22. It is also offered to users if a download URL points to YouTube and Deno is not installed. More information on Deno is available from these sites:
https://deno.com/
yt-dlp/yt-dlp#14404
“.netrc” files containing credentials are now fully supported. Credentials for each web site can be stored in a plain text file named “.netrc” which is stored in the user’s Home folder.
A new “Recode” video option has been added. Recode and remux are mutually exclusive. Recode will attempt to re-encode all streams available in a download to codecs compatible with the desired container format. Errors are reported in the yt-dlp log. Recoding requires a fast Mac.
The download “Monitor” dialog should now display properly for users on macOS 26 Tahoe. Have made a small change to the DialogToolkitMacYTDL library which is now at version 1.8.
The download Monitor buttons should now all be visible on macOS 26 Tahoe.
There has been significant under-the-hood work to reduce the risk of AppleScript running out of resources. This has involved changing all script libraries into compiled bundles and relocating those libraries to the Script Libraries folder inside MacYTDL. A new script library has been required for the auto-download function which now has its own download code. A side-benefit of this change is that libraries are no longer stored in each user’s Script Libraries folder. However, the ABC iView “Chooser” has been replaced with a simplified dialog for choosing desired episodes.
The “QT compatible video” setting will now recode videos which are in an “mp4” container. Note, however, that videos which are already QT compatible will also be converted.
The “SBS Chooser” is not available in this release. The SBS OnDemand web site has changed again. There has not been enough time in this MacYTDL release to redesign code which parses those web pages. However, individual episode of shows and movies can still be downloaded normally.
MacYTDL should no longer crash when subtitles are turned on.
Batch downloads should now work and there should be no crashes when returning to the Main dialog after attempting the download batch function on an empty batch file.
Multiple URLs can now be delimited by commas, returns, tabs and linefeeds as well as spaces. This applies when adding URLs to a batch as well as a normal download.
It is no longer possible to run MacYTDL from within the disk image file (DMG). MacYTDL is best run from the “Applications” folder (which can be seen by all users).
Opening the batch functions dialog should be quicker, than previously, when “Audio only” is turned on.
The Formats Chooser is now skipped if “Add URL to Batch” is chosen on Main dialog. Previously, the Formats Chooser was shown then the URL was added to the batch. However, the ID of formats chosen was not saved making the formats choice pointless.
It should be possible to download playlists from more web sites. Previously, attempting to download a playlist for sites other than YouTube would crash MacYTDL.
A spurious error message is no longer displayed if an updated to stable yt-dlp released is cancelled at the administrator credentials dialog stage.
Updating a yt-dlp nightly release should now be faster.
The Monitor dialog shows “converted in” instead of “downloaded in” when FFmpeg is converted the downloaded video.
The yt-dlp version now shows in “Utilities” if yt-dlp was installed after being found missing.
Batch downloads which include videos from ABC iView Australia will be named “Series-Episode.extension”.

• Download individual videos and playlists.
• Can download many videos at one time – tested up to 5 concurrent downloads.
• Works with YouTube, ITV, many video sites and Australian broadcasters: ABC iView, SBS On Demand, 7Plus, TenPlay, 9Now.
• Can cancel individual downloads.
• Options for download file format; remuxing; download a text description of the video; downloading and embedding subtitles, thumbnail images and metadata; downloading or extracting audio-only files.
• Downloads chosen episodes from ABC iView show pages.
• Batch downloads.
• Multiple shows can be downloaded separately (in parallel) or in one process (sequentially).
• Optional macOS Service for use in web browsers which copies the current URL, switches to MacYTDL and sets name of the video file to be downloaded.
• All components downloaded and installed by MacYTDL, which can be controlled by the user. Component updates available in the app.
• A separate log file is retained for each download enabling problem solving if a download fails.
• Has a built-in uninstaller which moves all components to Trash.

Instructions

• Download and open the DMG file.
• Read the Help file.
• Click and drag MacYTDL to any location - it's best to use the Applications folder.
• Run MacYTDL.
• Click on "Yes" to install components and create a preferences folder when asked.
• Wait.
• When main UI is displayed copy a video URL in your web browser, paste into the dialog and click on "Download".